It is known from New Zealand patent specification 233,083 that synthetic combinations of endophyte strain/herbage cultivar can be made which are resistant to pests and can be less toxic to grazing animals. The combinations were achieved by selecting combinations which produced relatively high levels of peramine and little or no lolitrem B.
It has been found that the ergopeptine alkaloid, ergovaline, was produced in a synthetic endophyte/perennial ryegrass combination which had little or no lolitrem B and that livestock grazing on the combination had an adverse physiological reaction to ergovaline under specific conditions.
It is an object of this invention to go some way towards avoiding the above mentioned disadvantages and achieving the aforementioned desiderata or at least to offer the public a useful choice.